The Task

Each artist was asked to provide Manuel Vason with a task that would bring him closer to the respective artist’s practice. These task scripts are provided here below.

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Ernst Fischer

RECIPE 1: PASSION/FLOWER Location: Indoors/outdoors You will need: 6 drawing pins; 3 flesh coloured plaster strips Execution: Push 2 drawing pins through each plaster strip (from the padded inside outwards) and attach one strip each to the three ‘middle’ fingers of your right hand (unless you are left-handed); remove your shirt or blouse and – placing your left hand palm down on the back of your right one – proceed to rhythmically beat your chest until it begins to bleed; continue for at least 15-20 minutes longer, then put your shirt/blouse back on and leave.

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Franko B:

Spend one hour every week, any time in the day standing up facing a white wall without talking to anyone, without moving at all and without using the wall as a support . Do this for 11 years non stop.

Why ? One does not understand the reason of this action. And is not important to look for a reason in this case .

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Helena Goldwater:

The language and vocabulary of practice is learned over time. We all have our own, which we discover over years of making. This makes it problematic for me to reduce it to a simple equation of ‘do this, then do that’ and ‘you will make a personal enactment of Helena Goldwater’s work/methodology’. What I can offer as a preferable action is to consider what your own vocabulary is, break it down into components then re-configure it. If you really want to approach the Goldwater-way then you need to get into a milk bath – basic ingredients are hot water mixed with skimmed milk – and stay there for 3 hours. Perhaps ask someone/several people to visit you every 10 minutes (maximum). Then you will have the beginnings of the experience of pleasure and longevity involved, as well as the sense of loneness and sociability.

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Rita Marcalo:

Find another person and find a studio space. Each person leaves the space (on separate directions) for a 30 minute walk: it could be an outdoor or an indoor walk through offices, etc. During the walk each of you gather any interesting objects you find on the walk. Try not to think too much about why they appear ‘interesting’ to you: just go with your instincts. On return to the studio space, divide the space into 2 distinct areas: one for you, and one for the other person. In their allocated spaces, each maker arranges the objects into a formation. Each of you choreograph a pattern of interaction with the objects. Share your choreography with one another. Now swap spaces. Your task is to stick to your choreographed pattern but resolve it in relation to the other person’s object formation.

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Oreet Ashery:

– minimum 3 people discuss together what democratic sound means for them. – choose a soundimage/text from this discussion and create it digitally – same one or more people are naked, taking a battery charged laptop with the sound/image/text showing on full screen and walking with the laptop in their hands, showing the screen, in a public space that feels relevant to the chosen sound/image/text

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jamie lewis hadley:

have cannula inserted into forearm and have one/multiple vile/s of blood removed – find a use for it.

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Alexandra Zierle & Paul Carter:

Ingredients:

A material of personal significance (minimum amount to cover two heads easily)

Two performers

A place that frames the action well

An assistant

Preparations:

Please each choose on a material of significance: the material’s texture/feel/smell/taste/sound must be of importance and/or the aesthetics are appropriate. Even more important is what your personal connection/association with your chosen material is.

Each find a quiet place and hold your material with both hands, connect with your breath for a few minutes and become aware of how the breath moves your body, then in your mind’s eyes let the breath flow out from your hands into the material you are holding. Bring all your attention into your hands and explore the material as if your breath has just brought the material ‘alive’. Breath into it and explore it through your five senses in whatever way it feel appropriate at the time. Let the material become an extension of your body and start a dialogue with it. Think of ways you could wrap, drape, bind, hang, etc. the material around your head to make a head disguise for each other that completely covers each other’s head and ideally obscures your vision. You might need assistance for the second head cover, unless you want to do some of it without sight.

Find a suitable starting point for each of you some distance away from each other, allow yourself to be led to this place by your assistant.

Actions:

In order to fully arrive/being present at your starting point, allow yourself a few moments of stillness and connect with your breath and with the feel of your head disguise as you have done before when exploring your material for the first time. Direct your attention outwards as you prepare to move, becoming aware, through all your senses of your immediate environment. Your vision will be very likely obscured by your head disguise and possibly your hearing and sense of smell muffled too. In order to take your first steps forward, use your breath and project it through your mind’s eye in the direction you are going to start moving. You now have to work intuitively navigating your environment using your inner and outer senses. You are now travelling slowly towards your performance partner, your aim is to eventually meet each other.

Once you have found each other, bring all your attention to this encounter and allow a dismantling process of each other’s head disguises to unfold. You may agree on certain rules beforehand, in order to set a frame work or let the process unfold in a completely improvised way. Stay present through all its different stages and observe what actions, intensities, emotions, thoughts arise. Develop your actions as a form of language to communicate with each other as you slowly reveal each other’s ‘true’ identity through this process of peeling away, tearing up, pulling down, piercing through, dissolving, etc., responding to the unfolding development of your relationship together, and equally, to the relationship with the material you are working with.

Once your heads are fully cleared of the disguises, find a way to acknowledge each other and come to an end.

A few things to consider:

Dress code: The type of clothing (or no clothing) can make a big difference, not just to the image you are creating, but also to how you feel when you perform.

Role of your assistant during the performance: Where do you want your assistant to be and what is her/his role? Do you need someone to hold your space, and/or safe guard you? Should your assistant leave the space or stay somewhere still in reach?

How long do you want to engage in this action? What is realistic? What happens if you keep missing each other? Depending on your chosen site and initial distance between each other, what frame work do you need to set up to be able to complete the actions?

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The Vacuum Cleaner:

Title – You are shit, and you know you are. Description/Action. Sometimes we get hate mail and death threats because of the work we make. Here is an example. http://www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk/hatemail Imagine you are a closed mind person, a person who is frightened by new ideas and fearful of changes in the world around you. Send me a piece of hate mail or death threat from the point of view of such a person. Send your diatribe to suck@vacuum.org.uk.

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Elvira Santamaría Torres:

A lonely walk

Tie an inflated ( with helium gas) plastic bag to your hair/head, let it float about a foot distance above your head and go for a walk on your own in the streets of your neighborhood. Don´t tell anybody what you are planning. If somebody on the street ask you what are you doing, never say it is art. Don´t take photos or video of it, this time. Feel the experience and think about.

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Sinéad O’Donnell:

Walk for as long as you can Only look down to the ground See what objects of use and function enter your path They will be just sitting there as if they were placed there for you to find them Decide if you need them Decide if you don’t need them Decide why you need them Decide why you don’t need them Go home not looking at the ground Sleep Dream Repeat

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Rajni Shah:

Cancel all appointments, turn off all the phones and the computers in your home and office. If you need to, put a holiday message on your email and a voice message on your phone saying you will not be contactable for a week.

Spend five full days starting from listening – and when you find it, follow your desire. You can do whatever you feel like doing, alone or with others, as long as you stay offline and your time is not determined by appointments or existing plans. You must spend this time in your home town or city, but it is up to you whether you stay indoors or go on adventures. Do not make any decisions about how to spend your time in advance. Nothing should be pre-determined.

At the end of this time, open up your home* for a full day, and invite everyone you love and admire to come over and meet each other. You may want to send out invitations before you begin your week – however, do not ask people to RSVP, do not send out any reminders, and be happy to welcome whoever shows up.

*this can be where you live, or somewhere else you are happy to call home

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Marcia Farquhar:

– Make a catwalk and model your own clothes on it. Talk about them one after another until you run out of garments or time.

OR

– Run a full bath, put on a lot of make up and pearls, undress and lie down under water with your eyes open. Get someone to photograph you.

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Michael Mayhew :

Daily

Live, as you need to daily. Engage with unknowns daily. Ask what ‘matters’ daily. Learn daily. Play daily. Be inspired daily. Meet a stranger daily. Change the rules daily. Listen anew daily. See anew daily. Question anew daily. Experience anew daily. Stretch reality daily. Laugh daily. Cry as you need daily. Learn what it is to be human daily. Fuck up in the most glorious way daily. Go on an adventure daily. Don’t compromise daily. Listen to music daily. Dance daily. Find time daily. Cook a new dish daily. Be artist daily.

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Joshua Sofaer:

You go about your day in as ordinary a way as possible. You get up. You brush your teeth. You make breakfast. Later you to to the supermarket or call a friend. You do all these things just as normal. Now imagine that you are being watched. Not by the secret service or the unknown enemy but by an audience. Every movement you make is witnessed as part of a performance. What happens?

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Mad For Real:

1. Find a friend and go somewhere such as a busy high street, a gallery or museum, a hill or mountain or in a rural field. 2. Stand in the middle of that space and scream loudly for five minutes with your mouth wide open looking straight ahead, keeping your breath steady to release your ‘qi’ or inner energy

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Eloise Fornieles:

Trust a stranger.

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Nando Messias:

Find yourself something inappropriate to wear, something outrageous. Ideally, something you wouldn’t have been allowed to wear as a child. Something that would make you stand out if you were to wear it in public. Put this item of clothing on. Go for a walk. Take public transport. Go somewhere crowded. Now become an observer. Watch people watching you. How are they reacting? Take notes. Perhaps use your phone as a camera to record them. Use the material collected to create a performance for the stage. Wear the garment from your experiment as a costume.

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Aaron Williamson:

‘Out of the Way’ When trying to shade your way through a situation that involves a person who is employed to be ‘in the way’, try pursing your lips, frown heavily, form a ‘gun’ hand-shape with the index and middle fingers of one hand, and press it over an earhole (hand and ear, same side of body). Shake your head, do not speak. Surprisingly often, the person who is ‘in the way’ will abandon the task of explaining their position, shrug and move to one side, standing ‘out of the way’. Really seasoned go-through types such as myself, can even achieve this outcome without the hand/ear business, simply by looking deeply confused and deploying body language that communicates polite servility. It doesn’t always come off, but entering into verbal discussion or arguing rarely ever works. Some situations to try which I’ve had various successes in: thwarting guest lists; receiving concessionary rates; entering exclusive parties; avoiding queues; escaping fines; being refunded; receiving assistance, an escort or even conveyance to elusive destination. There can also be exceptional, unexpected outcomes to flashing the gun-hand to ear gesture whilst not-speaking, such as the time I was awarded a flight upgrade and the occasion when a restaurant bill was made ‘out of the way’ by an unknown diner who paid it for me.

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Katherine Araniello :

Go to a restaurant with someoneOrder fish and mashed potatoOrder champagne with a strawInstruct the feeder to feed you your entire meal. I.e. putting the fork into the food and putting it into your mouth.Drink the champagne as you would normally but though a straw with the feeder always lifting the glass up to your mouth when you initiate.Pay the bill and go.

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Ansuman Biswas:

Allow yourself to be pounded, torn, burned, pierced, sanded, broken, and moulded without resistance. Remain clearly conscious. Continue to do this for twenty years. In your free time make art.

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Nicola Canavan:

Insert a hook (you may need a professional) and attach that hook to a secure place on a wall/ceiling. Cover your eyes with a blindfold, close off your mind and quiet you inner thoughts and pull your body away from that hook for a minimum of 20 minutes. Be at peace with your pain.

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Stacy Makishi:

Remember your childhood. If you are from another country or city go back in time to a place where you felt at home. What food makes you feel less homesick. Is there a favorite ‘food’ that can assuage homesickness? What would it be? Go and prepare that food. Sit down and begin to eat this food. Fill your entire mouth with this food and with your mouth entirely full….I want you to sing the lullaby from your youth. I want you to try and perform three tasks at the same time: Fill your mouth. Chew and Eat. Sing the words to a lullaby. (articulate it as best you can)

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Alastair MacLennan:

Place your mental attention in your tanden, or if it’s simpler, just focus on your breathing, your inbreath, then your outbreath… repeating this for a few minutes, without trying to change the breath in any way…just noticing it…and allowing distracting thoughts to subside…then, mindfully, perform any action, no matter how long or short, giving total, experiential, mind/body attention throughout, (beyond conceptual thinking)…so you fuse, COMPLETELY, experientially, with the action.

Method Place all the ingredients into the large bag. Select a space in which to conduct this action. Go to the space and on arrival, remove the mask from the bag and put it on. Now put on the latex gloves. Take out the camera and prepare it, ready to photograph. Walk around looking at the ground. When you see an interesting object. (This can be either animal, vegetable or mineral) photograph it at several different angles. (A minimum of three angles required ) Now remove the tweezers and the small clear plastic self-sealing bag, from the large bag. Using the tweezers carefully pick up the object and place it into the small plastic bag. Seal the plastic bag. Remove the pen from the large bag and using the pen write the date, time, place and a brief description of the object you have found onto the sealed plastic bag.

Result Congratulations you have now successfully collected a piece of forensic evidence. Store and keep this evidence in a safe place, as you never know when it maybe required.

Thank you for completing this action. Giovanna Maria Casetta Artist

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Julia Bardsley:

The elements

fig.i. an animal trace fig.ii. a grid fig.iii. a sonic landscape by Andrew Poppy fig.iv. a text by Rene Girard fig.v. a lexicon of materials/objects fig.vi. a defined colour palette fig.vii. a live human body & a projected body fig.viii. a ritual space fig.ix. witnesses fig x. the coexistence of all the above

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Martin O’Brien:

Make a tub full of home made gunge. Use 3 bags of flour, cold water and 2 bottles of green food colouring. Leave it to settle for at least two hours, stirring occasionally. Hold your breath and dip your face into it, stay under until you need to breathe. repeat this 30 times.

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The Famous Lauren Barri Holstein:

TASK: Be a lady.

OPTIONAL ACTIONS: 1) Shackle yourself to a train track wearing a full-body bear suit. 2) Order a “lean cut of brisket” at the butcher and immediately devour the whole thing raw. 3) Faint (for real or faked) in the men’s public toilet (head should land inside urinal or toilet bowl). 4) Exorcise your demons. (Interpret as you wish.) 5) Piss your pants “by accident”. 6) This action can be done for real or faked:

a) If you have a uterus: Have sex with a stranger that can fertilize you; get pregnant; perform an abortion in public; charge £50 per spectator. b) If you do not have a uterus: Have sex with a stranger that has a uterus; fertilize them (with your own or someone else’s junk); get them pregnant; give them a public abortion; charge £50 per spectator.

7) Tell strangers you’ve done number 6, but don’t really do it. 8) Sleep for 48 hours in a coffin in the woods. 9) Build a mechanical vagina and wear it over your mouth. 10) Just be YoUrSeLf. LOL no just kidding, please don’t ever do that, that’s disgusting.

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Helena Hunter:

Set yourself an impossible task. Try as hard as you can to complete it. Make something out of the failure.

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Florence Peake:

Go to a space in nature alone and follow any movement of the body that arises for 1 hour. One movement leads the next movement and the next and so forth. Continuous movement no matter how small, slow or dynamic it is, no matter where it is in space, lying, standing, crawling. After an hour draw on a piece of paper for 10 mins. Use the drawing as a score to make material from.

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Harold Offeh:

Performative acts and gestures in response to people, places and situations. Definition of to perform* Verb 1 carry out, accomplish, or fulfill (an action, task, or function): 2 present to an audience: *Oxford English Dictionary Task One: You must carry out, accomplish, or fulfill an action, task, or function in a specific place or location. Whatever action you perform must result in a trace, evidence, mark or record being left on one A2 sheet of paper. Think about materials and processes you can employ? Think about places and locations where this activity might happen. Your actions can literally result in a direct trace or you can later document your activity on the A2 Sheet. Task Two: You must then present your A2 sheet to an audience(s). It is up to you to define what that audience is? Please document this. This documentation can take any form.

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Mouse:

FUNNEL FUN…how to give your friend an enema.!

Today i am going to explain how you achieve the ultimate party trick and this is a task which certainly should’nt be used at a children or your nans xmas party by the way.The effluvia trick as i myself call it,effluvia meaning a fountain of water,needs the following ingredients for the recipe to be a success.

Ingredients for the FUNNEL FUN surprise.

1..A washing up bowl 2.A small funnel .one you would find in an average household 3.A large funnel 4.bubble bath or washing up liquid 5.A large sponge …used in the bath room not one you have icing 6.Hot water.not cold or warm but hot 7.Lube

Please use the exact ingredients and follow the instructions carefully The idea of your party trick is to get as much water up yours/ friends anal regions (arse) and front passage( minge) before squirting it out over everyone in the room at your party .However,let me explain it is advisable that you only squirt from one orifice at one time unless you become an x-spirt

PUSSY -SQUIRTING

Obviously a trick that only females can perform,this trick is to do with air pockets,muscle action and giving your pussy a bit of a workout.The results can be very interesting if rehearsed properly and aimed at someones face maybe somebody that you particularly dislike,an ex boyfriend perhaps,maybe someones who owes you money or maybe some dirty faced fucker who needs a wash. As noted in the ingredients, we use two funnels and this is for safety reasons.The small one must always be used for the pussy only GIRLS BEWARE never use the bum funnel in the pussy as it could pass those bum germs and you’ll get poorly,not good.Always practice safe funnel fun.

METHOD FOR THE FUNNEL FUN SURPRISE.

Gently lie yourself down on your back ,probably on some fle- ridden pub floor,spread ya legs,knees up and insert the funnel( it’s obvious which way round)all the way into your eager beaver.OH and remembering to take off you’re knickers first to prevent complications.Before starting this wet procedure make sure you have your washing up bowl ,sponge and hot soapy water at hand because you dont want to hunting about with a funnel up your quim.Make sure the water is hot and not cold as it helps the pussy muscles to relax and squirting is made easier.Never use scolding hot water for obvious reasons and that’s me talking from a painfull experience that left me with burnt flaps and my assistant with early retirement.Now,fill up the funnel with water.OK girls here comes the tricky bit,suck in the water using your pelvic floor muscles and as you do clench your stomach muscles in hard.Try to do this as quickly as possible ,take the funnel out,then push the jet of water everywhere achieving the right consistency of a psychedelic fountain.Add strobe light for garnish and voila.

This is excellent for honey pot clearout and can be good for removing those lost grapes,bits of tampax and round up the stale forgotten spunk.

Round Two BUM FUN SURPRISE – the hard bit

NOTE: it may be advisable to try and get rid of a little bum gravy before you begin.Also known as colonic irrigation (sort of),if done well as a party trick,only water will shoot out of your back passage so dont worry boys and girls.

Method.

Go on all fours like a dog and shove the bigger funnel up ones arse,lube up hole if necessary.Again, to avoid complications remove your knickers,or Y-fronts as this is a unisex skill.I am thinking about running classes for the under seventies male,teaching them to master the act of effluvia fun,anyone interested? Lean forwards so your arse is up in the air,knees and head are on the floor (such romance).This time,suck in the air first and then using the sponge,sqeeze and suck in the soapy water a little at a time,and repeat until at least a pint of water is up your butt.Then quickly take out the funnel and push the water out and as you almost anally prolapse,aim and fire.Squirt the water everywhere BEHOLD an effluvia of holy anal water.AMEN. Spin around on all fours at the same time if you like to achieve a spectacular spiral effect to cover the whole room and everyone.Anyone for bum juice,yah? Two words of warning,always mind the dj’s equipment and make sure a toilet is nearby.If not all could turn pooey after your party trick as the whole of your dinner shoots out and your recipe for fun could turn into a recipe for disaster.

WRITTEN BY MOUSE (Rhonda Elmore) THE EFFLUVIA FLOOZIE.

PS. Enemas i’d like to do on someone

1) slim shady (emimem) just because it sounds good,eminemenema try saying that fast with a funnel up your arse.

2) All politicians because there so such tight arses

3) Kim Basinger because she probably has a nice Arse-hole.

xxxxxxxxxx

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Noëmi Lakmaier

One Mile: You’ll need: -) 1 mile of twine/strong sting/wool (preferably colored), knot bits together if you can’t find one long enough. -) 1mile long stretch to walk -) at least half an hour of your time Instruction: -) knot twine/strong sting/wool together to make one mile if you Can’t find one long enough -) wrap twine/strong sting/wool somewhere around your body (waist, arm, leg, neck etc. [you choose] -) go to your chosen stretch of walk -) tie the loose end of your twine/strong sting/wool to a permanent solid object (tree, lamppost, etc.) -) start walking in a direction of your choosing -) let your twine/strong sting/wool drop as you walk -) walk for one mile (until your twine/strong sting/wool comes to an end) -) tie the end of your twine/strong sting/wool to another solid, permanent object -) leave -) clear your mind as you are walking, try to only think of the walk twine/strong sting/wool -) talk to nobody Variations: -) walk backward -) dress up for it -) crawl on your hands and knees -) do it naked -) etc.; use your imagination

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Marisa Carnesky:

Magic Blood Dolls A personal ritual performance act to bury your pain and invigorate your creative powers.If you are a woman do this on the last day of your period. if you are a man do this on the first day of a new moon.Get some flour, some eggs and some water, bind together and make a rough dough that becomes malleable and not too sticky. Make a human shape according to the gender you feel that day, this could be male, female or both. If you are a woman take a teaspoon of your menstrual blood and make a well in the dough doll and put it in. Then seal over with some more dough so the blood is sealed inside.If you are a man ejaculate some semen and capture it in a jar. Make your figure and put a teaspoon in the dough figure and seal as above.Brush the figure with egg as a glaze.Bake in the oven until golden. Put the Magic Blood Doll under your bed out of the reach of animals and sleep with it there until a new moon arrives.On the new moon bury the doll in your garden or in a forest deep under your favourite tree.Visit the site of your Magic Blood Doll on new moons to re energise yourself. Make a new Blood Doll following the same process and bury in the same place to counter-act negativity and exhaustion. When more than 7 blood dolls are collected and buried near each other place a stone with a red paint mark on it and find a new site to bury the new dolls.

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Dickie Beau:

Turn off your phone and go camping alone.

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Iona Kewney :

Move

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Áine Phillips:

1. Nominate a date, one year from now. This will be the ‘day of your life’. 2. Collect an elegant ensemble of clothes and accessories that you would not normally wear. Go to a hairdresser and ask for a completely different style. Dress in your special outfit. You have now become ‘another self’. 3. Meanwhile you have collected half egg shells from cooking or baking projects for one year (rinse them before long term storage). Transport them carefully in boxes to a public square or plaza. Arrange them (rounded side up) in an oval shape. This is a ‘lake of eggs”. 4. Ask a friend you love to assist you. They will be ‘beloved’. 5. On the best day of your life become your other self to create a lake of eggs. Float into the center of the pool. The shells will fracture. As you do this, try to explain aloud why you did a terrible thing once. Beloved is with you in all this and more. Leave behind only memories. If bystanders ask, explain the reason is to show how life is delicate, self is variable and love helps.

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